By Si Roddam of Eighth Wave

Back in 1994, Black Velvet Zine was born. 15 years later and editor Shari Black Velvet is still hard at work reviewing CDs, gigs, interviewing bands and living life the Black Velvet way. Black Velvet comes out quarterly and with the arrival of issue 60 will celebrate its 15 year anniversary. To mark the occasion we decided to turn the tables – and rather than Shari interviewing a band, we got a band to interview Shari. Meet Eighth Wave, an upcoming UK band that impressed Black Velvet when they opened for Go:Audio recently. With a debut album now on sale entitled ‘Last Night’s Hero’ (produced by Andy Giblin and Steve Rushton, ex-Son Of Dork), frontman Si Roddam became hero of the day coming up with the below questions. Check out Eighth Wave at www.myspace.com/eighthwave for more info - and make sure you order issue 60 of Black Velvet. Better still subscribe and have every issue of Black Velvet delivered direct to your doorstep. Keep up to date with all the best bands, interviews, reviews and more, via Black Velvet’s printed pages. There’s now even a new ‘advance order’ offer where if you order in advance you can save money. UK readers can now get the issue delivered to their house for only £2 in advance. So... what's stoppin' ya? But without further ado, here's Si of Eighth Wave to ask Shari a question or two.

Si Roddam: How did Black Velvet Mag come about?
Shari Black Velvet: When I was at school I loved writing and started writing letters to penpals. This was way before the internet took over. I began going to concerts and getting into signed and unsigned bands. After discovered a band in the US that were unsigned, I figured they were so good that I should do something to help them – and ended up writing a zine for them for two years. Through this I got in touch with a few other UK zine editors who on occasion asked me to write an article for them. When the unsigned band split up, it made sense to start an all-round rock zine – thus Black Velvet was born.

SR: When was the first issue launched and can you remember who was on the cover?
SBV: I can definitely remember who was on the front cover of the first issue. It was none other than Jon Bon Jovi – the band who really got me into rock music and who I still love to this day. It was 15 years ago, May 1994, that the first issue of Black Velvet came out.

SR: What bands do you most like writing about?
SBV: Bands that inspire me, pretty much. As long as I love the band’s music – and can get in touch with their press officer – I’ll write about them. I mostly love catchy rock/pop-punk songs with good vocals, melody and good playing.

SR: How should a new band go about getting featured in Black Velvet?
SBV: Bands should send their CD to the address in Black Velvet. I listen to all the CDs. If I like a CD it will either get reviewed by me or a contributor. If I’m really, really impressed I may do an interview. I have to be more selective about who gets interviewed since there are only so many pages in each issue. There are usually about 10 interviews in each issue.

SR: Who is the coolest band you have interviewed? Any stadium rockers?
SBV: I interviewed Tico Torres of Bon Jovi back in 2000. I’m still waiting to interview Jon Bon Jovi. I think he once said in an online chat that he’d do an interview with Black Velvet – but him actually saying it and someone actually setting it up are two completely different things. Next time I meet him I’m gonna tell him it’s time we did our interview! Haha. I interviewed Slash as well. Coolest bands… most bands that I interview are cool – or they’ve been cool with me. Sugarcult are awesome. Keri Kelli, who now plays in Alice Cooper’s band, is awesome. John Feldmann of Goldfinger is awesome.

SR: Which is your favourite music festival and why?
SBV: I really like both Download and Warped Tour. I went to Warped Tour for the first time about 3 years ago and it was a lot of fun. It wasn’t too huge, so it was easy to get from stage to stage. I like how they have two stages side by side and when one band finishes on one stage, a band starts on the stage next to them. Download is also great for the amount of good bands you’ll find in the line-up, the different stages and the shopping area! I’m envious of the people in Australia who get Soundwave because that looks like an awesome festival too.

SR: If you could start a Black Velvet music festival who would be headlining? and where would it be?
SBV: I’d have no clue where to start if it came to putting on a festival. I can tell you who I’d want to play but whether they would would be a completely different story. If I put on a festival I think it would have to have an animal rights theme. Maybe I could get lot of stalls selling animal rights merch and vegan products. I would ban meat from being sold, and stuff like leather. It would be cruelty free. Bands I’d like to play would include Bon Jovi (who I’d obviously get to headline), then Sugarcult, Goldfinger, Madina Lake, My Chemical Romance, Lostprophets, Boys Like Girls… I think I’d have it in Birmingham, since all roads lead to Birmingham. Oh wait, Eighth Wave would play too!

SR: Has Black Velvet Mag taken over your life or do you have other interests outside of the mag? Like fishing? Or listening to Eighth Wave? Haha.
SBV: Ooh, you haven’t done your research! I’m against animal cruelty so there’s definitely no chance ever that I’d ever go fishing. I think fishing is a horrid activity. Check out www.fishinghurts.com. But yeah, Black Velvet took over my life quite a while ago. Every day I work on the zine. I pretty much only go out when it’s to gigs – as I have so much Black Velvet work to do at home. If I’m not at a gig, or doing my dayjob (I do still have a dayjob), I’ll be either researching for interviews, laying out reviews, writing reviews, editing photos, or approving add requests to the Black Velvet MySpace page (sifting out the hip-hop artists is a bit of a pain sometimes)! Once in a while I will go to one of the big national animal rights marches that’s organized. Next week (April 25th) is the World Day For Laboratory Animals march and rally in London. There are coaches going from around the country, so I’ll be going on the Redditch / Birmingham / Coventry coach. I did also start going to a local photography club last year but I've been so busy lately that I haven't had the chance to go for a while.

SR: Where do you see Black Velvet Mag in the next 15 years?
SBV: I try not to think too much into the future but I’d like keep Black Velvet going for as long as possible as it is a part of my life and the thing that gives me the most pleasure (even though it also sometimes gives me the most stress!). I can’t imagine life without it. In fact, I think my life would suck without Black Velvet. It would be nice to get Black Velvet in more stores – although the independent stores keep dying one by one, and of course even Zavvi has now shut down. Maybe in 15 years time everyone will just order mags and everything else online and there will be no high street stores at all. Who knows.

SR: Do you think Elvis is dead? I'm not sure...
SBV: I think so. But maybe if he’d been vegan he’d still be alive!

SR: Where is the best place to buy a copy of Black Velvet Mag?
SBV: The best place is either online from me directly or one of the online stores that stocks Black Velvet, or one of the retail stores that stock Black Velvet. Links and info are on the MySpace page and Black Velvet website. Dale News is one of my particular favourites as it’s right near Birmingham Academy and is often open before and after gigs, so it sells quite a few. If anyone knows of any good stores I should try and get Black Velvet in let me know.

SR: Is there anyone you would like to thank for 15 years of Black Velvet Mag?
SBV: I’d like to thank all my contributors who’ve put up with me hassling them for their reviews/interviews, all the shops that do sell Black Velvet, everyone who’s ever bought a copy but especially the subscribers because they rule the world, and of course all the bands that inspire me to write about them and all the press officers that make it possible. Also my parents… and of course Bon Jovi for getting me into rock music in the 80s, putting up with seeing my face at so many shows, and saving me some money in the process.

SR: When is the next issue out and what should we expect?
SBV: Issue 60 will be out super-soon, before the end of April. Interviews with Metro Station, Madina Lake, Seether, Steadlur, Papa Roach, My Passion, Hey Monday, Theory Of A Deadman, Lights Resolve and TGL are all interviewed. There are concert reviews of Fall Out Boy, Jon Bon Jovi, Boys Like Girls, The All-American Rejects, Staind, Rise Against and Alkaline Trio, a column by Marko 72 of Sugarcult, a Q&A with Download promoter Andy Copping – and heaps of CD, Zine, book and DVD reviews.